So “Dredd 3D” is all kinds of awesome, and you’ll find out why when my full review is published on Digital Trends. Until then, however, you can read a brief introduction to the world of Judge Dredd that I wrote up for IFC.com. I think it’s a nice primer for anyone who’s new to the character or only knows him from that awful 1995 film with Sylvester Stallone.

Here’s an excerpt:

THE CITY

In the future-world of Judge Dredd’s adventures, a nuclear war in the year 2070 has rendered much of the U.S. (and North America) uninhabitable due to radiation fallout. The surviving population is crowded into closely-packed urban “Mega-Cities,” with Mega-City One containing nearly 800 million people by the year 2100. While other cities are mentioned in the series, the majority of Judge Dredd’s adventures take place in Mega-City One, which covers most of the East Coast and is bordered to the west by a dangerous, radiation-filled landscape called “The Cursed Earth.”

You can read the rest of my “Dredd 3D” guide at IFC.com.